A pair of students from North Port High School had to be hospitalized on the morning of Wednesday, December 8 after being hit by a car while attempting to cross the street near the intersection of Chamberlain Boulevard and Hamilton Avenue.
According to the North Port Police Department, the students were transported immediately to Sarasota Memorial Hospital. One of the victims, a 14-year-old girl, sustained minor injuries, but the 15-year-old was taken to the hospital on trauma alert.
The Traffic Homicide Unit was called to the scene at approximately 6:40 a.m. that morning and continued to investigate the accident in its aftermath.
Preliminary information from the investigation did indicate, however, that the driver was not at fault. The injured students were crossing at an unmarked intersection and the driver had very little time to react to their unexpected presence in the roadway.
Questions of liability in pedestrian accident cases
In the majority of pedestrian accident cases, the driver will be considered the liable party. Even in some cases in which the pedestrian does not cross at a marked crosswalk or does not have the right of way, the driver could bear at least partial responsibility if they should have reasonably been able to notice and react to the presence of the pedestrian with enough time to slow down or avoid a collision.
However, in a case in which a pedestrian walks out into a road and there is no reasonable ability for the driver to react in a safe manner, the pedestrian will likely bear the fault of the accident.
To learn more about how to determine liability in a pedestrian accident case, contact an experienced Bradenton, FL personal injury attorney at Goldman, Babboni, Fernandez & Walsh and begin your claim